Two of the truly great pillars of our movement were Rabbis Solomon Freehof and Abba Hillel Silver, of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, respectively. In the 1963 convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis they sat together asking and answering each other’s questions. Reading their replies was most interesting.
One of the questions had to do with the changes they’ve seen since their ordination around 1915. They were specifically speaking about kashrut and Bar Mitzvah, but their perspective went beyond that. As Rabbi Freehof said:
When the Reform movement was new, every member of every new Reform Temple had most of his relatives Orthodox. Then as the years went by in America, our temples were peopled by Reform children… grandchildren…and great-grandchildren and we lost our direct family contact with Orthodoxy. (Since the growth of our movement these twenty years) almost every congregation has three quarters of its members related to Orthodox grandfathers, Orthodox grandmothers, to whom it would have been a heartbreak if the boy was only confirmed, and not Bar Mitzvah. We have become in our family lines, reintegrated in Orthodox lives, and that, of course, has affected the type of observances in our congregations.
If anything, this has been more pronounced, having moved from “observances” to the actual prayerbook liturgy as well as other subtle and not-so-subtle forays into traditionalism. It used to be forbidden to wear a talit or kipah in a Reform congregation; now it is surprising when they are not worn.
I’ve written about this in general, I know, but there is one custom, indeed law, of the more observant that should NOT be part of our movement, namely, to omit the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah when it falls on Shabbat as will be the case this year.
Those synagogues that celebrate two days of the holyday can fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar’s sounds on the SECOND day. Not having a shofar service on Shabbat is no big deal as they’ll hear it on Sunday. While some members of our movement do indeed celebrate two days, Beth El and most Reform congregations have only one day, so I ask…are we not to experience one of the most significant moments in the entire Jewish year? We shall experience it!
The fear was that one might carry the shofar into the synagogue when carrying on Shabbat was not permitted. That’s not within the parameters of Reform Jewish concern.
Another reason for not blowing the shofar is tied to the destruction of the Temples. Why? You see, in those sacred precincts of yore the shofar WAS BLOWN on Shabbat, but like the elimination of music after their demise so too the elimination of the Shofar sounds. You know how I feel about that!
There may be incursions of traditional practice into Reform congregations, Beth El included, but not hearing the shofar on Shabbat will not be one of them.
(Speaking of the shofar, Jack and Sam are talking when Sam asks, “Jack, what time is it?” After answering, Jack asks, “Sam, why don’t you wear a watch?” Sam replies, “Who needs a watch?” Jack says, “To tell time, you need a watch!” “If I want to know, I ask.” Well, what if you have to get up in the middle of the night and want to know?” “In the middle of the night, I take out my shofar, open the window and let go with a tekiahg’dolah.” Jack says, “And?” Sam: “And?! Somebody always yells out of their window, “Hey, jerk, it’s 3:00 in the morning. Why are you blowing a shofar at 3:00 in the morning?!!!”)